Reddit reviews MOFI4500-4GXeLTE-SIM4-COMBO 4G/LTE Router AT&T T-Mobile Verizon Embedded SIM with Band 12

There are many non-Verizon brand hotspots out there, I can't say that the one I use is the best as its the only one I've tried but the one I use has ports for antennas and 4 ethernet ports to hard wire in your computers which i needed for my work from home computer.

There is a workaround involved with getting this activated on Verizon prepaid which involves you owning a Verizon brand hotspot, registering that hotspot for the prepaid plan and then simply moving the sim into this device. i purchased a $30 Verizon Jetpack on ebay for this purpose.

MOFI4500-4GXeLTE-SIM4 4G/LTE Router AT&T T-Mobile Verizon Embedded SIM with Band 12

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EY11K40/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also use the following products to get the best signal possible, currently:

(Quantity 2): Wilson Electronics Wideband Directional Antenna 700-2700 MHz, 50 Ohm (314411)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J14YEHQ/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

(Quantity 2): Wilson Electronics 20-Foot WILSON400 Ultra Low Loss Coax Cable with N Male Connectors - White

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003NQ3P3M/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

(Quantity 2): MPD Digital UC-5FHC-9DB9 N Female to SMA Male Right Angle Pigtail LMR-200 Double Shielded Coaxial Cable, 6-Inch

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CJWQJ2U/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Signal Strength: -51 dBm (100 %)

Speedtest results (extremely dependent on location but these are my results for my location):

Ping: 28 ms Download: 82.55 Mb/s Upload: 15.97 Mb/s

https://www.speedtest.net/result/8022626633

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Here are the videos I used to build my system (just a heads up there is nothing about Verizon Prepaid in these videos):

Fast Unlimited 4G Internet Router for RV or Van or Rural Off-grid: How to Setup the Mofi 4G Router

https://youtu.be/pKyf9BQsduU

RV Internet - Get The Fastest Mobile Internet & Wifi On The Road - "How We Do It!"

https://youtu.be/7m_I9i0eTnM

That would be insane. That being said, you can just get one of these and do the same thing. The only benefit of the Unifi is that the controller auto-manages the failover switching. If you have unlimited bandwidth then who cares!

I appreciate the advice but I set the correct APN for statics in my region (so01.vzwstatic for any other folks in the southern states who stumble across this). I actually figured out what was going on on my own, no thanks to VZW! After installing the LTE Discovery app on my phone I found that the town I was trying to deploy the router in only has VZW LTE band 13 active, which my LTE router doesn't support. The reason everything worked as expected in my lab is because my lab gets good signal from VZW in bands 2, 4, and 13. So, I'm going to have to acquire a different modem that supports LTE band 13. I've got my eye on this particular model which appears to have support for everything.

>How exactly would I install or use something like the MOFI 4500?

Basically you get a compatible SIM, install it in the Mofi, configure it, and you're ready to go. Configuration is often as easy as logging into the Mofi and changing the default passwords with the rest being plug and play. If it doesn't fire right up things can get a little fiddly as Mofi documentation is not great.

>Is this what I want? MOFI4500? Is it just a router that picks up the signal from the tower and turns it into a regular router?

Yes that's it, it's basically like a normal cellular hotspot except is has ethernet ports and can use an external antenna. The external antenna is the key part for you, probably.

>Could I attach a stronger directional antenna to it such as This?

Yes you can. Make sure to get a compatible cable (example)

>Also, what would I do about the Verizon sim card? Isn't it possible to get an unlimited one somewhere?

If you don't care about unlimited you can just get one from Verizon. You could buy a hotspot plan and just take it out of their hotspot. Not sure if they would sell you a bare SIM with service, never tried. They will throttle you to 600Kb after 10GB of data.

If you want unlimited then you're into something like Unlimitedville or grey market eBay (example, this is not an endorsement). The grey market sellers are often happy to send you just the SIM versus a whole hotspot. Note the risk with those guys is there is no contract, so if they terminate service and disappear with your money you have no recourse. But, you pay month to month so generally your risk is limited to one month's fees.

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Disclaimer: This isn't an official plan so remember it is possible that at anytime this loophole could go away at any time. They do not support this plan, most at&t employees will not know about this loophole and will discourage you from trying.

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Go to walmart, target, best buy or wherever is convenient and get yourself a prepaid sim card kit (they are around $10). You might want to wait on buying the sim card until after you buy your hotspot as most hotspots will come with a preinstalled sim card that will likely work.

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Get yourself a hotspot. I reccomend the AT&T nighthawk because it has ethernet and I assume you want to hook it into your existing network.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/at-t-nighthawk-lte-mobile-hotspot-router/6212403.p?skuId=6212403

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Another option that gives you some options for multiple carriers would be something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/MOFI4500-4GXeLTE-SIM4-Router-T-Mobile-Verizon-Embedded/dp/B01EY11K40/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542823404&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=mofi+4500+verizon

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If you have an at&t tablet with an LTE modem this is much easier but if not you will need an imei number of a working tablet. If that imei is for an LTE ipad go here:

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https://dcp2.att.com/OEPNDClient/pages/A-00T.jsp?version=0.13693307204867577&version=0.15959132455818992

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If that tablet is an android LTE tablet go here:

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https://buyasession.att.com/sbd/unauth/ShowLogin.action

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If you don't have a tablet you can generally find an imei number of one by searching google or ebay and changing one of the numbers at the end and then verifying it using an imei calculator like this one to generate the correct check bit:

https://www.imei.info/calc

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You will need to provide them with the imei of a tablet that is compatible with AT&T's network and the ICCID number on the sim card you buy. Once you put in those numbers it will ask you what plan you want. You want to choose the plan as you see here:

https://i.imgur.com/izKRnIG.png

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Once you have signed up just stick the sim in the hotspot and you will have amazing internet access.

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**Note you will be behind carrier grade NAT so you won't have a public facing IP address and you won't be able to do any port forwarding which can be problematic when gaming but it will work amazingly for everything else.

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Also Verizon has an official unlimited hotspot option now but it's twice the price. Might be an option though depending on coverage and if the at&t plan goes away.

https://www.reddit.com/r/verizon/comments/9vy4tw/verizon_prepaid_hotspot_new_unlimited_plan/

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Feel free to message me if you run into any snags. I don't use mine as much anymore because I have fiber at my house now but I have a cheap hotspot that I picked up for portability that I use for my daughter on long car trips or when we go camping or whatever.

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Hope this is helpful

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I posted a few days ago about using an LTE modem....Here

So far I like it, but it's definitely a YMMV.

/u/dangerusty, replied to my post and pointed out an interesting solution to the "unlimited" data cost dilemma. You would pair the Mobley with one of the different flavors of AT&T SIM which are "unlimited". It's available used on Ebay as well is the OBDII power adapters. (The Mobley was originally designed to plug into the OBDII plug in your car for power.) I don't know if it's a problem or not but it doesn't seem to have external antenna. I also don't think it will erase the depriortization issue, although I'm not sure of all the details.

Another inriguing option I've been toying with (in my mind) is a 4G LTE module in a USB adapter, Sierra Wireless has Windows 10 drivers for the device, and maybe another OS. This would only work on a W10. For my situation (single laptop) this would be nearly prefect. The 4G LTE module is a Category 6 device (Cat 6 uses band aggregation so it's faster than the Netgear I'm testing).

If your into tinkering, another thing I've been toying with (in my mind) is building a modem/router using this Mikrotik motherboard. Install the Sierra Wireless 4G LTE module (along with your SIM) and appropriate Routerboard OS.

Near turnkey solutions might be a Mofi or one of the Cradlepoints.

Whatever device you decide to try, compare the bands it receives with the bands your desired carrier offers. Here is a tool to find out what frequency/bands your carrier supports, but that band may not be available in your area. AT&T (and other GSM carriers) seem to be the most versatile, Verizon is not very friendly to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), unless it's a former Verizon device in good standing.

This might work for you.

Yes, it will work with the correct plan directly from T-Mobile. Here is the modem i have On Amazon

I was thinking about this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EY11K40

Paired with NetBuddy and Verizon Prepaid Unlimited.

I can't speak about unthrottled plans. I think almost all of them throttle or are managed in some way.

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But for hardware I use this device. If you pair it with a weboost 4g booster with verizon you can get pretty good 4g in a lot of places!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EY11K40/

France and Germany for sure, but plan on doing open/flexible travel, either continuing to go around Europe or maybe even heading over to Vietnam/going around SEA.

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I have an LG G6 at the moment with Tmobile, and am planning on getting my phone unlocked today. Just to clarify, unlocked phone + local sim card is enough to work, in terms of using mobile hotspot, or should I get a dedicated router/hotspot? Some people have had success just using their phone but as this will by my way of continuing income as I travel I feel a little trepidatious about not having a backup plan.

Also, is the setup router + hotspot, or router + ethernet cable + ethernet -> Usb adaptor? Both?

Is this the correct Mofi router you were talking about?

So the main problem again I think I would encounter is being able to pick up Verizon's signal as I believe Verizon has the closest cell tower to me (3 blocks away according to open signal app). How exactly would I install or use something like the MOFI 4500? Is this what I want? MOFI4500? Is it just a router that picks up the signal from the tower and turns it into a regular router? Could I attach a stronger directional antenna to it such as This? My apologies if that's a cell booster or if any of this is ignorant or dumb, I really don't understand a ton about it. Also, what would I do about the Verizon sim card? Isn't it possible to get an unlimited one somewhere?

He picked up one of these, except his says "V2" on it: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EY11K40/